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Friday, April 27, 2012

Sepia Saturday: May Day! May Day!

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old
photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt shows some festive revelers
dancing around a May Pole.Had you been
in Dayton, Virginia, in 1948, you might have been among the throngs eagerly
anticipating the 14th annual May Day festivities at Shenandoah
College & Conservatory.You would
also have seen my mother Mary Eleanor Davis (Slade) serving as the Maid of
Honor.

Judging by the amount of press, May Day was a big deal in
Dayton.An article appeared in the local
newspaper:

·Lou Salmons and Nancy Caskey to bear gifts to
Queen Shenandoah from the College and Conservatory

·Pageant “Festival of Flowers” to follow coronation;
music by Conservatory orchestra

·May Day and Homecoming were combined

(Click on the images if you want to enlarge them.)

The school newspaper, The Arrowhead, ran both a front
page article and editorial.

The article includes many of the same facts as reported
in the local newspaper.But here are a
couple interesting tidbits:

·May Day festivities were traditional in colleges
and universities throughout the United States.

·The representatives of the court were to wear
pale orchid gowns.

·The maid of honor (my mother) would be wearing delicate
green.

·The Queen would wear a beautiful white
gown.

The sun must have been in Momma's eyes. There's also a lotof glare on that delicate green dress.

The editorial amuses me with its grandiloquence.One would think Miss Hilda Maulden was going
to reign over the world, not just the May Day festivities.

from The Arrowhead (XI.7) April 1948

Queen Shenandoah XIVOn the head of a petite brunette here on our campus next
month will be placed the crown of Queen Shenandoah XIV.

Our queen will be taking over her throne not by force,
nor bloodshed, but by the democratic vote of her fellow-students here on the
campus.

Queen Shenandoah, we of the college feel that we could
not have improved upon the selection of a queen to reign at our May Day
festivities and we selected you in knowing that you will carry out your tasks
before the public in an excellent manner.[I wonder what she had to do
besides smile and wave.]

You will take over the throne from Queen Shenandoah XIII
who reigned here last year and to both of you who we have marked down as “tops”
in our college life we want to wish a joyous day on May Day with many more of
same to follow.

To we here on the campus Queen Shenandoah XIV you truly represent
the typical picture of American happiness.[Don’t get me started on THAT
grammar error!]

We have watched you in your college life giving out with
a cheery “hello” to your many friends.

We have watched you help out others who needed help.

We watched you with your late little dog who has passed
on and knowing you had the kindness you always displayed toward that pet we
truly could think of nothing but these lines to say when we learned that our
student body had selected you as Queen Shenandoah XIV:

“Queen Shenandoah XIV, may your reign be a long and happy
one, we look forward with great eagerness to your coronation.Hail Queen Shenandoah XIV!”

Here is the program from the May Day Festival at
Shenandoah College, 1948.

Program cover featuring Hilda Maulden

Page 2Mary Eleanor Davis is in the middle

Page 3

It’s too bad that I have no picture of the May Pole
dance that preceded the recessional.It probably was quite similar to
the one at Madison College, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1950.

Scanned from the 1950 Madison College yearbookThe School Ma'am

For more merriment, grab a ribbon and wind your way over
to Sepia Saturday.

19 comments:

Neat pictures! We celebrated May Day each year at my elementary school with the May Day dance, performed by the 1st graders. My cousin teaches at the same school and they still do it. I'll bet that a lot of people haven't heard of it.

Wendy I’m amazed that you have so many pictures and documents to fit this theme! You’re spot on with the style of that report, which I found amusing - thank goodness the late pooch got a mention too. Your mother looks lovely, glare or not. Very enjoyable post.

It's fun too have reminders and relics of the days when that sort of pageantry was so important. My mother was also Queen Something or Another. I wish we could see that green dress in color. Thanks for posting this!

I had no idea that May Day celebrations were such an important part of college and high school traditions in the USA. What a fabulous selection of images and mementos from the event - they make a great post.

The May Day celebration sounds like it was the highlight of the year at that college. the fact that that those articles and images have been preserved indicates that it must have been a highlight of your mother's life too.

Wendy, this is wonderful! What an honor, though the incoming queen most probably got the job because they felt sorry for her when her dog died. Otherwise, I'm sure your Mom would have been queen, but it is so cool that she was maid of honor. She looks so pretty and happy in these pictures.

I really loved this whole post. I wonder if the college would like a link to it?

It's very fun that you have so much information from and about your mother for that May Day. Shenandoah College must have been small enough for everyone to know everyone else considering that she was elected. I noticed that they celebrated on Saturday, May 8, not May 1. Great post.

It seems it was very serious business the May celebrations,with the crowning of a Queen, a bit like in Grafton NSW the jacaranda festivities which are held in spring; but naturally spring is here in October! I admire your collection of all the wonderful photos, also in the later post.

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About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net